State Board of Elections recognizes Constitution Party as official NC political party, holds off on others

RALEIGH, N.C. (WITN) -The State Board of Elections on Tuesday recognized the Constitution Party of North Carolina as an official political party in the state.

Voters now have another choice of party affiliation when registering to vote or updating an existing registration.

Voters may register with the Constitution, Democratic, Green, Libertarian, No Labels, or Republican parties, or they can register as unaffiliated.

Those currently registered with a different political party or as unaffiliated may switch their affiliation to the Constitution Party if they wish.

The Constitution Party of North Carolina also will have candidates on ballots in November, which it chose during its 2024 nominating convention. They include Walter Vinny Smith for governor and Wayne Jones for lieutenant governor. A letter to the State Board indicated that the party would have additional candidates, but the party did not want to disclose their names until it was recognized. The Board set a deadline of July 23 for the Constitution Party to provide the names of its candidates for the 2024 general election.

According to a review by State Board staff, the Constitution Party submitted 14,022 valid signatures from registered N.C. voters, 157 more than the required 13,855 signatures.

The State Board of Elections says it continues to verify whether the Justice for All and We The People parties have complied with the statutory requirement for prospective parties to communicate the “purpose and intent” of the new parties to petition signers.

The Board plans to meet again soon to decide whether to recognize We The People and Justice for All.

They say there is still time for these groups to get their candidates on North Carolina ballots if they are recognized as official political parties.

NC House Speaker Tim Moore commented on the BOE action saying, “Democratic partisans on the State Board of Elections have ignored clear state law and refused to certify third parties that pose a threat to Joe Biden in November. This is election interference at its worst, and I anticipate the House Oversight and Reform Committee will examine the board’s decisions at their July 23 hearing.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is running for president under the We The People Party.